Beautiful
by LoveAi
Summary: Paul and Dawn, two totally different people, somehow get themselves into a relationship...will it blossom, or will it fail?
1. Chapter 1 It Begins

PaulxDawn

Pokémon

It was a cloudy day out, but the rain was only threatening and not falling just yet. Ash and Brock had gone back to Kanto the day before, and Dawn was hanging around in Sandgem Town to let Empoleon have fun in the water while she sat on the beach and watched the waves. She sighed, thinking about all their adventures and all the fun they'd had…she herself was still on her way back to New Bark Town to see her mom again, and the stop in Sandgem was just for the beach. She was hugging her knees to her chest when a voice behind her startled her so much that she nearly fell over.

"Are you sad that he went back to Kanto?" Paul said, watching impassively as Dawn nearly fell. "I saw you crying as his boat left." Dawn shook her head all too quickly.

"N-no! I-I just…I miss hanging out with him, that's all!" she snapped, and realized what she'd said only a moment too late. "I-I mean--"

"You do miss him," Paul said. "Of course you do. You miss everything that comes in passing. You probably even miss fighting Team Rocket."

"That I can live without," Dawn admitted, staring out at the water. "That I can definitely live without. Why do you care, huh?"

"I care because now you're stuck here in Sinnoh with me," Paul snapped, probably too quickly. "And you're right there in Twinleaf while I'm here in Sandgem. That's not too far. I'm probably going to have to deal with you coming here for the beaches a lot."

"And that explains why you care…how?" Dawn asked, raising one eyebrow.

"It means I'm going to have to deal with you more often now!" Paul snapped, practically shouting.

"Jeez, don't get so worked up about it," Dawn muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'll try not to bother you, OK? I'll leave you alone." Paul sighed, shaking his head and sitting down next to her, glaring out at the horizon.

"You don't have to do that," he said. "I'll listen to you…if you want."

"Since when are you so nice?" Dawn scoffed, looking over at Paul.

"Since you ever actually took the time to talk to me," Paul retorted, not looking at her and not particularly wanting to, because whenever he did he seemed to get overwhelmed by how…no, he was not going to think about that because it was irrational.

"You never let me talk to you, how was I supposed to?!" she snapped, looking back at Empoleon as it splashed around in the water. Then she sighed and looked over at Paul. "Sorry, you just really annoy me. Saying how I should have taken the time to talk to you without thinking how you never let me talk to you was kind of a stupid thing to do."

"You're one to talk," Paul snorted. "Of all the people to tell me what a stupid thing something was to do, I wouldn't have expected it to be you." Dawn stuck her tongue out at the purple-haired Trainer and turned back to watching her Pokémon have its fun. "Well, really, it's true. You don't think about things before you say or do them, and I tend to overanalyze things sometimes—"

"—all the time—"

"—whatever – the point is, we're total opposites."

"And that explains why you called me stupid how?" Dawn asked slowly, like she was talking to someone with mental problems or something.

"It explains it by showing how we're different. Compared to me, you are kind of stupid, I'm sorry to say," Paul said. "And I'm not slow, you don't have to talk at a speed which you can understand just for me."

"You were going to let me talk to you?" Dawn growled.

"Right…sorry," Paul muttered, looking in the opposite direction that Dawn was in. "I'm bad at this whole 'nice' thing."

"For one, don't be rude," Dawn said, sighing. "For another, try out a smile once in a while. I'm sure a smile would look good on you. Just a small upturn of the corners of your mouth that isn't a sneer or a smirk. Give it a try." She turned a friendly smile on Paul, not caring that he wasn't looking at her at all. "See? Like this!" Paul slowly turned his head back towards Dawn, a little surprised at how easily nice she was. A small smile crossed his face as he laughed at the concept. "What are you laughing at? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"No, no…I'm laughing at…at how foreign it is to me…that someone can be just so openly nice to another person who's been nothing but rude…and unsociable to them in the past," Paul said, chuckling still. "It's kind of weird to me, that you're so nice."

"Of all the things…he laughs at this?" Dawn mused, giggling. "I wonder why it was me that got a chuckle out of him, finally…"

"Maybe that's because…because I think you're really…beautiful," Paul choked out as his laughter subsided completely. When he saw the blush blooming on Dawn's face, he felt one blooming on his own face as well. "I-is something wrong?" Dawn shook her head, a small, shy smile on her face.

"You…you really think I'm beautiful?" she asked, momentarily stunned. To her amazement, Paul nodded and inched a little closer so that their hands were touching a little.

"Yeah…I do. You are," he said, blushing even more. "Your eyes are always so alive…and your smile is so open and warm…" He looked away, blushing more than it should have been possible to blush. "I sound stupid, don't I?" To his surprise, Dawn shook her head.

"No…no, you don't sound stupid," she said, smiling and inching closer so that her hand slid beneath his on the sand. "You sound really sweet, actually."

"Y-you think so?" he asked, and Dawn nodded. "I…nobody's ever gotten me to talk like this before in my life, it's so strange to me…"

"Then just…just go with your gut," Dawn said, smiling kindly and openly like she always did. "It's always worked for me in the past…"

"I…I guess…I guess that could work," Paul admitted, leaning over towards her and gently pressing his lips to hers for a moment before he pulled back. "You're really beautiful, Dawn."

"You…you're not half bad yourself, Paul," Dawn said, smiling and kissing his cheek.

And she thought to herself, _He called me beautiful!_


	2. Chapter 2 A Fight Starts

Three weeks had passed, and Paul was still getting used to the idea of having a girlfriend and being nice. Luckily for him, Dawn was being patient and kind to him, despite his huge blunders almost each and every day. She encouraged him to try his best, and never wavered in her cheery outlook on things. She really was beautiful, and Paul didn't deserve such an amazing girl as Dawn; he knew it, too, but he didn't say anything. He'd mentioned it once and she'd gone into a flaming rant on how he should never say things like that or put himself down in that manner. It was four days after that unfortunate incident, and the two were sitting in Paul's room, talking about Pokémon and reasons to have them.

"A Pokémon is a really good thing for someone who's really lonely," Dawn said, smiling. "A Pokémon could be a companion, and a friend; more than that, a Pokémon can mean the difference between happiness and sadness, too, sometimes, but usually only in extreme cases."

"They can also be misused as tools by people with the wrong intentions," Paul argued. "Like Team Rocket. They use Pokémon like they're disposable, and like they're not living creatures."

"Team Rocket is completely demented, and they all need good psychiatrists," Dawn spat, folding her arms over her chest. Paul flinched.

"Sorry," he muttered, kissing her forehead. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's OK," Dawn said, smiling. "I know you didn't mean to. I'd say let's go to the beach, but it's absolutely pouring rain outside…we could go visit Professor Rowan, but we'd still get soaked…"

"Why don't you stay over tonight, since it's raining so hard? I wouldn't want you to get sick on your way home just because you came to see me," Paul said, thinking aloud.

"Alright, except for one thing," Dawn replied, nodding. "I don't have any pajamas, or an extra outfit for tomorrow…"

"You can borrow one of my shirts if you want," Paul offered. "And I can walk you home in the morning so you can get changed." Dawn smiled and blushed.

"Thanks, Paul. That's really sweet of you," she said, smiling. "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Collapsed on Paul's bed, Dawn stuck out her tongue for emphasis. "Ugh…I don't think I'll be able to eat for a week or more," she moaned, grinning. "That was delicious."

"You're seriously complaining about good food?" Paul asked skeptically.

"It's a joke," Dawn pointed out, giggling. "You really think I'm complaining about a good meal?" Paul smiled a little and shook his head.

"I chose to ignore the joke," he said. Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I can see that very well," she said, yawning. "All that good food made me tired…we should get to sleep soon, I think." Paul nodded, going over to his dresser and pulling out an oversized T-shirt, which he tossed over to Dawn.

"You can get changed in the bathroom if you want," Paul said. Dawn nodded, catching the shirt and making her way out of Paul's bedroom and into the bathroom. She returned a couple minutes later with a neatly folded pile of her own clothes, wearing Paul's shirt, which came down just low enough to be at least slightly modest. She sat down on the floor next to Paul's bed, eyes closed.

"I am completely, thoroughly exhausted," she said, yawning again. Paul smiled and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and letting her rest her head on his chest.

"Then sleep, if you're so tired," he said. "I'll be right here, OK?" Dawn just nodded and smiled as she nodded off into sleep, the vision of innocence and purity just laying there asleep. Paul smiled, stroking her hair while she dreamed, glad to be there with her as she slept. As he began to feel tired, he shifted his arm to around Dawn's waist and rested his cheek against her hair, nodding off into sleep as well.

When morning came, Paul was the first to wake, and he glanced out the window to check the weather. It was still raining out, and quite a bit, too. Seeing this, Paul looked down at Dawn – still asleep, of course – and started to stroke her hair again, like he'd been doing before he himself fell asleep. A crack of thunder jolted Dawn awake, and without thinking, she grabbed onto the shirt Paul was wearing, squeezing her eyes shut and burying her face in his chest. Paul just chuckled a little and hugged Dawn's shoulders, kissing the top of her head.

"A rather rude awakening, I'll admit, but if you want to go back to sleep, that's fine with me," Paul said, still smiling a little. Dawn shook her head, peeking up at Paul with one big blue eye.

"I don't want to get woken up so rudely like that again," she said, voice muffled by Paul's chest and clothes. Paul nodded, continuing to stroke her hair as she relaxed against him again.

"You look really cute like that, you know," he pointed out, blushing as he did so and smiling to see Dawn blush as well. A thunderclap made them both jump, and Paul chuckled a little at the terrified expression on Dawn's face.

"What?" Dawn complained indignantly, pouting.

"Your expression was kind of funny, I'm sorry," Paul replied, briefly tightening his arms around Dawn's shoulders and rubbing her arm. "Do you want to go get some breakfast?" Dawn shook her head.

"No, thanks, I'm not really hungry," she said, yawning a little. "Just really tired."

"How can you be tired? You got plenty of sleep," Paul scoffed, the words coming out harsher than he'd intended.

"Well, I'm sorry if I've been putting any effort in to get you to be nicer," Dawn snapped, pulling herself out of Paul's arms and grabbing her clothes. "I'm going home." She stormed out of the room and returned a few minutes later only to throw Paul's shirt in his face as hard as she possibly could and storm back out.

"Dawn, wait, you'll get soaked through!" Paul called, getting up and hurrying to follow her. "I didn't mean for what I said to come out so harshly, I'm sorry!" When he tried to catch Dawn's wrist, she just shook him off, pulling her shoes on and opening the door.

"You should think about that next time you're about to say something that could potentially be rude and harsh!" Dawn snapped, storming out into the rain and slamming the door behind her just as a loud thunderclap sounded.

"Dawn…I'm so sorry," Paul muttered to the closed door, head hung. He trudged solemnly back upstairs to his room, closed and locked the door, and stared out the window at Dawn's retreating figure. He'd messed up big time, and he knew it, too. His only regret was that he'd messed up in the first place and hadn't been quick enough to fix it.


End file.
